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Field-Induced Decoupling of NiO-Magnetite Multilayers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2011

R.W. Erwin
Affiliation:
Reactor Radiation Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899
J.A. Borchers
Affiliation:
Reactor Radiation Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899
S.D. Berry
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306
D.M. Lind
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306
E. Lochner
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306
K.A. Shaw
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306
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Abstract

NiO-magnetite multilayers exhibit long range antiferromagnetic order with the magnetite ferrimagnetic correlations confined to a single layer due to stacking faults of the spinel structure at the interfaces[l, 2, 3, 4]. A systematic study of the field-dependence of the interlayer coupling in a series of NiO-magnetite multilayers has been made using neutron diffraction. Both NiO and magnetite single thin films were included in the measurements for comparison. In the magnetite film, intensity changes with magnetic field are consistent with domain reorientation of the net ferrimagnetic moments, while in the NiO film there are essentially no intensity changes. There is no significant field dependence of the magnetic correlation lengths in either film. For multilayers where the ratio of NiO to magnetite layer thickness is far from unity, the field dependence approximates that of the bulk films. However, for a Fe3O4(68Å)|NiO(34Å) multilayer the NiO antiferromagnetic intensity decreases with increasing field, and there is a broadening of the NiO peak on the order of 30 percent. Concomitantly, the magnetite spins rotate collinear with the field, as expected, due to the net 4.2 μB moment per unit-cell. The NiO moments appear to rotate into domains where the direction of propagation of the ferromagnetic sheets is closer to the field direction.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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References

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